


In the Afterlight of the Heavens

by Liara_90



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Astrology, Astronomy, Canon Compliant, F/M, Feels, Flashbacks, One Shot, POV Third Person, Post-Season/Series 10, Prompt Fic, Stargazing, Tumblr Prompt, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 16:03:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13616811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liara_90/pseuds/Liara_90
Summary: Aboard theMother of Invention, York and Carolina take in the heavens.A story about binary stars.





	In the Afterlight of the Heavens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mantisbelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mantisbelle/gifts).



> This story is technically set during the events of the Chorus Civil War, before Carolina and Epsilon reunite with the Reds and Blues.
> 
> But it isn’t about those battles.

* * *

“Hey, Epsilon?”

Carolina glanced over at her helmet, which was resting on the wild grass of Chorus, never out of arm’s reach. A hologram flickered to life a split-second after she spoke, projecting a man in the middle of a languorous stretch.

“Mmmmmmmrg good evening to you too, Carolina,” Epsilon groaned, making an audible show of yawning. It wasn’t real fatigue, of course, just a subroutine simulating the real thing, a concession to the AI’s humanity. “Can’t sleep?”

Carolina ignored the question, the answer obvious to the both of them. She was lying on her back, still wearing the rest of her armor, ready to spring into action at the sound of gunfire or shouting or shrapnel. But it wasn’t nervousness or discomfort that were keeping her up, as familiar as those problems were.

“You’ve got access to an astronomical database in my suit, right?” She kept her eyes forward, on the sky. Towards a Heaven she’d once firmly believed in.

“I think so?” Epsilon replied, feigning the limitations of human memory. “Need me to go digging for something?” The hardware on her suit was, in relative terms, infinitely slower than the crystal chip he existed in, something Epsilon made a point of reminding her whenever he had to interface with other machines.

She inclined her chin by degrees. “Are any of those stars Mu¹ Scorpii?” Epsilon winked out of existence for a moment, no doubt querying the antiquated navigation systems in her suit that stored such data.

The stars on Chorus were almost impossibly clear, at least by comparison to any planet Carolina had ever set foot on. Well, that probably wasn’t true, she admitted to herself, knowing that there were worlds with far less light pollution than Chorus. She’d just never spent much time looking _up_ on any them.

“Okay then,” Epsilon declared, blinking himself back before her. “See that boulder at two o’clock? Yeah. Okay, altitude's about thirty degrees.”

Her eyes swept up the sky. “That bright one?” Carolina asked, focusing on a singularly clear pinprick of light in the cosmos.

“Yeah, no, the dim one a few degrees west,” Epsilon corrected. “Just above the little triangle that’s-”

“I see it.”

Epsilon shut up, letting her take in the stars in silence. For a few moments, at least.

“So... wanna tell me what’s so special about that one?”

Carolina inhaled.

* * *

Her footsteps seemed to echo in her ears.

It was a weird sound, one she hadn’t quite gotten used to, and ultimately, never would: running in the confined corridors of the _Mother of Invention_. But she hated running on a treadmill even more, and the training room was _occupied_ , so its passageways would have to suffice.

She was jogging one of her usual routes, down the port side of the ship, back up the starboard, rinse and repeat. _Charon_ -class frigates were a bit less than a half-klick in length, so she had to do more than a few circuits to really work up sweat, but that wasn’t so bad. She actually enjoyed the zig-zagging part of it, rounding corners and weaving through servicemen, more strenuous and less mindless than simply running around an oval. And running in the middle of the overnight “C” shift meant she avoided too many familiar faces.

Carolina hopped over the lip of one of the doors that segregated one compartment from the other, marking another lap. Without breaking stride she tapped a button on the fitness band affixed to her wrist.

 _Beep_.

Twelve seconds short of her all-time record. Carolina stifled a grimace and pushed her legs just a little harder. If those idiots from engineering hadn’t been clogging the 7-A passageway she’d have shaved off at _least_ five seconds from her time...

 _inhale_ … slap slap slap … e _xhale_ … slap slap slap … _inhale_.... slap slap slap... _exhale_ ….

Her vision narrowed, her lungs burned with exertion. She vaulted over a trolley laden with hard cases that someone had parked in the middle of her path. Something sharp stabbed her abdominals, but Carolina powered through the pain.

She was thirty-two seconds away from reaching her mark - from breaking her _record_ \- when some dumbass slid open a door and walked right into her.

“On your lef-” was all Carolina managed to get out before she ran bodily into a masculine speedbump. On most days she would have just brushed him off and kept running, but she’d already pushed herself to the brink of exhaustion, muscles gelled to rubber. She couldn’t catch her stumbling foot, not in time to keep herself from careening towards the deck.

Carolina suddenly found herself leaning over Freelancer Agent York. Her eyes into his. His lips parted and-

“ _haaaaaaaa……_ ” 

A holographic Spartan appeared betwixt the two of them. “I believe Agent York is attempting to greet you,” Delta offered, tilting his helmet to convey uncertainty. “However, he is currently experiencing a diaphragmatic muscle spasm as a result of his collision with you.”

Carolina struggled to wright herself, pushing herself up and off of York. Her own breaths were heavy heaves, sweaty palms slipping on the freshly-waxed deck tiling. York followed her up a few seconds later, one hand resting on his chest.

“Thanks, D...” he said with a groan, as his breaths slowly steadied. “Though you coulda just said she knocked the wind out of me.”

“Understood. I will try to be less medically precise in the future,” Delta replied.

Carolina rubbed her neck. “What are you _doing_ here?”

* * *

“What?” asked Epsilon, “no ‘ _sorry for running into you like a motherfucking freight train_ ’?”

Carolina snorted. “He shouldn’t have been in my way.”

* * *

“I shouldn’t have been in your way,” York said in apology, clambering gracelessly to his feet. He extended a hand, which Carolina begrudgingly accepted, hoisting her up.

“The error is mine,” Delta interjected. “According to my calculations, you were not supposed to enter Corridor 7-B-1 for another thirteen-point-three-seven seconds.”

Carolina glared at the little green man, resting her hands on her knees. “Have you been _tracking_ me, Delta?”

The AI looked startled, or as startled as was possible for a computer program encompassed in full-body armor. “I have access to the biomedical and fitness logs of all Freelancer personnel, Agent Carolina,” Delta clarified, diplomatically. “Excepting Agent Texas. I did not mean to insinuate that I or Agent York were... _surveilling_ you.”

“See, he’s not creepy, just all-knowing,” York explained with a wry grin. He scratched his sternum where Carolina had collided with him. “And besides, D’s saying you’re faster than even _he_ thought.”

Carolina collected herself sufficiently to stop audibly panting. “But you _were_ waiting for me.”

“No,” Delta insisted. “Agent York simply wanted to know if there were any other Freelancer personnel nearby. I informed him that you would be finishing a cardio workout in approximately fifty-seven point-”

“Okay, D, no need to defend me,” York chided. He turned to face Carolina. “But basically: what he said.”

Carolina let out a loud sigh, begrudgingly accepting the benign explanation for their run-in. “Well, now that you’ve ruined my time,” she began, flashing her fitness tracker angrily, “care to explain why you needed a Freelancer?”

“Oh.” York’s whole posture seemed to soften. “Just… wanted to show someone something, I guess.”

“To clarify: the ‘something’ is _not_ Agent York’s pen-”

“ _D_!”

“Hibernating.”

York looked at Carolina with a sheepish expression, as the greenish glow of Delta dissipated. “Sorry about that. He’s trying to be helpful. But, you know…”

“...still a computer,” Carolina completed.

“Yeah. Though I’ve seen sexbots with better people skills,” York added.

Carolina wiped sweat from her brow, the motion masking the little smile that escaped her. “So what’s this thing that isn’t your penis?”

York rolled his eyes. “Just trust me.”

He turned around and began walking into the room he had just left, one of a thousand little compartments aboard the _Mother of Invention_ that Carolina had never set foot in. She followed him in, the door sealing shut as she crossed the threshold. The first thing she noticed was that it was dark - _very dark_. Actually, there were no artificial lights at all, just the pale illumination of what she now recognized as a single, massive window.

“What is this room?” she asked, taking a few cautious steps inside of it.

York shrugged. “Dunno, just found it myself. D says that it’s usually a rec room, on other _Charon_ ships. Except we just fill it with junk.” He gestured to the piles of boxes and crates stacked along every wall. Only the window itself was unobstructed by containerized crap, very clearly the result of some recent rearranging. “It’s supposed to be the best view on the ship - not counting the bridge. Which, for obvious reasons…”

York shoved another crate out of the way, clearing a path to a makeshift bench he’d shifted into existence.

“It’s… very pretty,” Carolina offered, a little awkwardly, taking in the starscape.

“Oh, Carolina, you’re just so impossibly sentimental,” York replied, earning him a raised eyebrow. “C’mon, take a look.”

And so she did, finding herself a perch atop a carton of TR/9 Antipersonnel Mines. The heels of her runners bounced gently against its shock-absorbant casing.

“So, right now, we’re _technically_ in a part of the universe that no human has ever been to before,” York began. “Pulled over on the great interstellar freeway while our slipspace drive spins down.” Carolina’s feet kept bouncing. “So these stars look like nothing that literally _anybody_ has ever seen before.

Her head tilted a little at that, ponytail swaying, as York seated himself atop the landmines. His spot was to her left, leaving her within sight of his good eye. She could feel his bodily presence beside her, but he wasn’t encroaching on her space. “So?”

“Just think about it,” York said. “We can make up whatever constellations we want, and there’s nobody in the universe who can tell us we’re wrong.”

Carolina didn’t veil her grin that time. “Didn’t take you for the _astrological_ type, York.”

“Hold on, lemme ask D if Venus is ascending right now-”

York began to make a gesture summoning his AI, but Carolina batted his hand with her own. York’s mouth remained opened for a few seconds, but he lowered his hand, no little green men to be found.

“So what’s that constellation?” Carolina asked, making a vague gesture towards a hundred stars in one corner of the window.

“Those? Oh, those are the Twins,” York answered, not missing a beat. He pointed with his index finger, tracing invisible lines in the air. “See how you can make out a torso, legs, two arms…”

Carolina actually _could_ , but only because the human brain was an idiotically-overpowered pattern-making machine, doubly so when given a primer. “The Twins?”

“Yeah. In ancient mythology, they were brother and sister, who boldly fought in many battles together,” York embellished. “The sister was kinda scary, but the brother was always a gentle and caring soul, despite his immense strength.”

Carolina caught York’s good eye, the twinkle in it making her grin. “And those?” she asked, pointing at another meaningless arrangement of stars to her left.

“ _Ahh_ , yes, the Heavenly Seafarer. According to legend, he was banished for plundering the mead halls of the Great Kingdom of Illinois, cursed to sail the stars for all eternity.” York nudged Carolina’s shoulder with his own, forcing her to snort at his silliness.

“And that one?” She pointed to a bright dot towards the bottom of their window. “What’s that one, all by its lonesome self?”

“Actually, Agent Carolina, that is Mu¹ Scorpii, which is technically two binary stars in orbit around a common barycenter-”

York pulled Delta’s chip.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, re-adjusting to their intimacy. “So… two stars?” Carolina asked, reigniting the conversation.

“Two stars,” York agreed, slowly, as he nodded his head. His hands nervously patted his knees. “And just because it’s not a _big_ constellation, doesn’t mean it’s not, you know, a _good_ constellation.”

Carolina coughed, juvenile innuendo slipping into her mind.

“But these two stars are special,” York continued, “because they’re lovers.”

“ _Lovers_?” Carolina’s pitch rose a little.

“Yeah. Two mortals, I think. Turned into stars by the gods.” York’s easy rhythm had abandoned him, his voice softening a little. “Eternal love. But it’s tragic. Because they’re orbiting each other forever, but they’re never able to, um, embrace. But everyone in the galaxy can see their love.”

Carolina’s feet stopped kicking the box.

“That’s… very sad,” was all she could make herself say.

York grimaced slightly at his own melancholic mythology. “Yeah. But, you know, they’re always with each other. Which is better than a lotta stars.”

“Yeah...”

Carolina exhaled, what might have been hours later. “It’s late. I should try to get some REM sleep.”

York nodded in acknowledgement. “Gotcha. I’ll be down in a bit. Gotta make nice with D for yankin’ him.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Carolina said, hopping up from the crate. “Goodnight, York.”

She made it halfway out the door before he answered.

“Sweet dreams, Carolina.”

* * *

Carolina realized she was picking at dirt with her thumb, watching little ant-like creatures scurry about in confusion. “It’s been a while since I thought about that night.”

Epsilon hovered in the corner of her vision, awkwardly fiddling with his illusionary sniper rifle. “I, uh…” His hologram seemed to flicker for a few seconds, fuzzing and sharpening. “Thanks for sharing that, Carolina.”

She flicked grains of dirt from her glove. “Well, you are the resident expert on memories,” she replied, a little evasively. “So those binary stars…”

“ _Star_ ,” Epsilon corrected. “One of the two, Sco B, went nova a little while back.”

Carolina exhaled. Somehow, it didn’t even surprise her. “Of course it did.”

“Sorry,” the memory fragment apologized. “It’ll take a couple hundred years before Chorus notices anything.”

Carolina folded her hands across her stomach. “Well… we still have its light.”

“Yeah ya do,” Epsilon agreed. And then he paused, lost in his own collection of memories. “I’m going to go defrag some of your suit’s hard drives. Really looked like a mess when I was poking around earlier.” He hovered patiently for a few seconds, unacknowledged. “Goodnight, Carolina.”

Epsilon winked out of existence in a flash of blue.

“Sweet dreams.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this kinda got away from me. Because what’s the fun in letting two people just enjoy themselves angst-free, right? Special thanks to [mantisbelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mantisbelle/pseuds/mantisbelle) for giving me a prompt which kick-started my writing drive. (The prompt, incidentally, was: “stargazing + Yorkalina”). 
> 
> For those keeping score at home, this is my fourth fic which has used stars/stargazing as a narrative device, the other three being, [_Sawdust and Star-Stuff_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12891750), [_Take My Hand_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6946696) and [_Fire in Focus_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6874588). This is also my third _RvB_ fic, and the first featuring any of the AI units. Feedback is always greatly appreciated - narrative flow, characterization, dialogue, pacing, spelling. Constructive criticism is the only way I improve as an author, so please feel free to let me know what worked and what didn’t.
> 
> As always, I can be reached on [Tumblr](http://www.pvoberstein.tumblr.com/) and [reddit](https://www.reddit.com/user/pvoberstein/), and am always open to talk about damn-near anything.
> 
> My apologies to anyone who actually knows anything about astronomy.


End file.
